Top �� Speeches and Statements by Prime Minister

(Provisional Translation)

Japan-Australia Joint Press Conference

16 July 2003 I. Remarks by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi Prime Minister Koizumi of Japan: I heartily welcome Prime Minister Howard's visit to Japan. Since taking office as Prime Minister, this is my third meeting with Prime Minister Howard. I have also met him at other international meetings like the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit. Bilateral relations are in a very good state and on the occasion of Prime Minister Howard's visit to Japan this time, we should like to further promote our friendly ties with Australia. In today's summit meeting, we engaged in a very candid exchange of views and built on a relationship of mutual trust. Japan and Australia, in many respects, share values and positions, and in the future, in the economic area and the security domain, I hope to further promote closer ties between our two countries bearing in mind the importance of our bilateral relations. In the economic area, we agreed on a Japan-Australia Trade and Economic Framework and I believe this is an epoch-making document that is built around joint studies and trade facilitation measures. We should like to further promote close economic ties on the basis of this document. Prime Minister Howard conveyed to me Australia's decision to participate in the 2005 World Exposition (EXPO 2005 Aichi). I expressed my gratitude and would also like to extend our warmest welcome. Also we agreed to conduct various exchange programs toward the year 2006, which will be the 30th anniversary of the Basic Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation between Japan and Australia. We discussed not just Japan-Australia relations, but also global issues. We adopted a Joint Statement on Counterterrorism. The fight against terrorism will continue to be prolonged and very tough, and our two countries will cooperate in that fight. We shall carry on firmly in our fight against terrorism through our bilateral cooperation as well. On weapons of mass destruction, we reaffirmed our positive stance toward the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI). We also agreed to cooperate on the international coordination for Iraq's reconstruction and the establishment of a government by the Iraqi people themselves. I should say, the reconstruction of Iraq, of the Iraqi people, by the Iraqi people, for the Iraqi people. Our two countries that share interests in the Asia-Pacific region reaffirmed our close cooperation in dealing with the North Korean issues, including North Korea's nuclear and missile issues. Prime Minister Howard expressed his support for Japan's North Korea policy, including our policy vis-a-vis the resolution of the abduction issue. Turning to the situation in the Solomon Islands, I expressed my support for the assistance that Pacific island states will provide under the leadership of Australia. Japan shall extend its assistance as much as possible for the Solomon Islands as well. Certainly, numerous issues will arise in the future and on the basis of mutual trust and friendship, I look forward to maintaining close cooperation with Prime Minister Howard. I believe we had a very good meeting. II. Remarks by Prime Minister John Howard Prime Minister John Howard of Australia: Ladies and gentlemen, I again express my pleasure at being in Tokyo to have once again an opportunity of talking in a very open and direct manner to Mr. Koizumi, the Prime Minister of Japan. The relationship between our two countries is very deep. It is built on a great deal of mutual respect and a very closely shared exchange in so many fields over the last 40 to 50 years. It is not only an economic relationship. It has increasingly become a people-to-people relationship, and, as our discussion this afternoon indicated, it is a relationship which increasingly is concerned with the strategic challenges of our region. We spent a great deal of time talking about the challenge of North Korea. I share the resentment and vigorous reaction of the Government of Japan and the people of Japan regarding the abduction of the citizens of this country in North Korea. The Prime Minister is totally justified in pursuing that matter as a central element of the resolution of the North Korean issue. It is an issue that needs to be resolved with the involvement of all of the major players, meaning in particular the two Koreas, Japan, the People's Republic of China, the United States of America, and of course perhaps the Russian Federation. It is an issue though that is of concern to all countries in the region, and I was very grateful that our views on it were so similar because it is important that close friends such as Japan and Australia cooperate as closely as possible on an issue as difficult as this. I took the opportunity of our discussion to thank Prime Minister Koizumi for the forthright support that he extended to the "coalition of the willing" in the campaign in Iraq. It was not an easy decision for him domestically, and I respect very much the leadership that he has shown on that matter. I also was very grateful for what he had to say about our role in relation to the Solomons and indicating that he would give consideration to what assistance Japan might be able to afford in that area. I welcome very warmly the signature of the new economic and trade framework, and also the joint declaration on counter-terrorism. The world, for all of us, has changed a great deal since I was last in Japan for a bilateral meeting. It was in fact in August of 2001 and one of the major discussions, inevitably at that time, surrounded economic matters. Whilst economic and trade matters remain very important, it is a metaphor for the changed world in which we live that so much of our discussion this afternoon should have quite properly surrounded strategic and security issues because they are of very great importance. Japan and Australia are very close friends. We value very deeply the economic relationship. We value even more deeply the people-to-people relationship and the fact that more than 700,000 people from your country choose to visit Australia every year, and I hope that this visit in a very tangible way will further strengthen that relationship. Can I say also how much I appreciate the opportunity on a personal level of seeing the Prime Minister again? It is our third meeting in a bilateral context, but we of course have the opportunity also of seeing each other frequently at APEC and other meetings.